DENVER - Howard Wolfson in TNR: "The Clinton versus Obama storyline is irresistible to the press corps--and the McCain campaign." A truer line has never been written. It's all the press wants to talk about, and the McCain campaign is pushing it at every turn.

The kicker is that it's true - at least to some degree. Recent polls show anywhere from 20-50% of Hillary supporters are currently not supporting Obama, and a certain percentage of them are indicating they are going to cross over and vote for John McCain.

So the press is not simply making it up - though there is every indication it's being overplayed and getting an inordinate amount of coverage because, to steal from both Wolfson and Robert Palmer, it's simply irresistible.

And the fact of the matter is that regardless of what happens with the Hillary delegates in Denver this week, we don't really know how the rest of the 18 million voters who backed Hillary around the country will react to the show that's about to take place.

Keep in mind, too, that what we are about to witness is only one half of the story. Obama will make his case and tell his part of the story, and the following week John McCain will get to present his running mate, his story, and his vision. It will be equally as compelling and scripted to hit all the right notes.

Hillary supporters around the country will be buffeted by these competing stories, and given the unique and immediate proximity of the two conventions this year we really won't have any idea if, whether, and how much they may be swayed until at least the second week of September. Just because the Democrats are bound to leave Denver on Friday morning singing kumbaya and declaring all the primary wounds have been healed doesn't necessarily make it so.

And, again, circling back to Wolfson, if the polls continue to show some level of discontent among Hillary voters, the press will unable to stop itself from playing it - and almost certainly overplaying it - all the way through Election Day.